MP: Employment scheme in 13 more districts

Bhopal, June 9: The government has claimed that about 19.71 croremandays' employment has been provided to 28.66 lakh families in MadhyaPradesh's 18 districts covered under the rural employment guaranteescheme during fiscal 2006-07.

The scheme has been extended to 13 new districts from April this year, official sources said today.

A total of Rs 1862 crore, including the state government's shareof Rs 208.12 crore, had been spent under the scheme till March thisyear when 82,548 works had been completed while another 81,546 wereunder progress. Nearly, 80 percent works were related to waterconservation and water augmentation, the sources added.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, while reviewing the scheme,stressed that development works should be implemented at a faster paceto provide employment opportunities. The state's performance in ruraldevelopment was excellent and the same tempo should be maintained, hesaid.

The 13 new districts covered by the scheme are: Guna, Ashoknagar,Datia, Dewas, Burhanpur, Rajgarh, Harda, Damoh, Panna, Katni,Chhindwara, Rewa and Anuppur.

Earlier, Satna, Sidhi, Shahdol, Umaria, Dhar Jhabua, Khandwa,Khargone, Badwani, Shivpuri, Balaghat, Dindori, Seoni, Mandla,Chhatarpur, Tikamgarh, Sheopur and Betul were covered under the scheme.

UNI